Sure, Amazon is an easy and convenient way to shop, especially if you're a Prime customer. But I'm not sure that's enough to entice iPhone users and other Android users to switch. This kind of feels like the rumored Facebook phone -- an entire ecosystem designed around one product.

If you consider the free year of prime as coming off the price, it basically is $100. The kind of person who will be interested in an Amazon branded phone is also the kind of person for whom spending the $100 on Prime is a forgone conclusion.

I also believe Amazon will need some other partner carrriers in addition to AT&T. Nokia selected AT&T as the exclusive carrier for some quarters hoping that AT&T will push the sales through its channels. However, it did not do good for Nokia. There will be many potential customers who would like to buy one but will not get one just because of being non-AT&T subscribers. This phone is not something that will push herds of people to jump to AT&T. Exclusive contracts do have perks but will it outweigh the cost of losing non-AT&T enthusiasts?

The Fire Phone is clearly a ploy to rope more shoppers into the Amazon ecosystem. But I wouldn't underestimate the power of the Amazon brand. The phone does have some unique features (Firefly, Prime, Dynamic Perspective) and perks like free Prime for a year. The smartphone market is brutal but it's getting predictable. This is a nice jolt. I am surprised by the high prices given Amazon's proud history of keeping prices down. The AT&T-only service is a head-scratcher too, but I'm sure Amazon will expand quickly if things go well.

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.